Sweden Leave Turkey Out Of Next Round

Serife Onar crying on the sideline was a clear image of the Turkish despair, after being ruled out of the U16 European Championship Women Qualifying Round by Sweden, 61-72.

Anxiety dominated the first quarter, where a 14-0 run for the Swedish followed a 13-0 for the Turkish.

It was a classy battle by two guards, as the 17 points and three assists by Serife Onar were not enough to surpass Anna Lundquist's 22 points and 16 rebounds.

Sweden also dominated the boards, outrebounding Turkey 65-41.

The injuries of Rojin Karahan and Betul Erkoyuncu were a major setback to a Turkish side in need of winning.

Turkey now need to avoid repeating their worst U16 European Championship Women performance (14th place in 2007) to keep their place in Division A, as this season three teams will get relegated to Division B.

As for the Swedish, they advance to the Qualifying Round after securing third place in Group A.